


Valentine

by ElectricityLingerss



Series: One Hundred Ways To Say 'I Love You' [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Love, M/M, Puppies, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 08:10:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4911907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectricityLingerss/pseuds/ElectricityLingerss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One hundred ways to say, 'I love you' number 2 - 'It reminded me of you.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Valentine

**Author's Note:**

> Tweaked this one slightly to make it, 'he reminded me of you' instead of 'it'  
> Enjoy!

Steve smiled helplessly down at the small bundle of golden fur balanced on his chest. He ran his fingers through the impossibly soft fur on the puppy’s head, getting his fingers licked for his troubles, before moving on to the puppy’s silky soft ears. Rubbing the paper-thin skin between his thumb and forefinger, he revelled in the simple childlike joy of playing with his very own puppy. 

Growing up, Steve had been too sickly and plagued with allergies to be able to play with animals like the other kids did. Bucky had once brought an abandoned kitten that he had found to Steve’s house, and Steve had been hit with a sneezing fit that had lasted a full twenty minutes. 

Those days were long gone now though. Steve shook off a sudden feeling of melancholy he always felt when he thought of Bucky and turned his attention back to the adorable golden retriever demanding his attention. From the moment Tony had brought the puppy home, thrusting him at Steve with a blush and a muttered, “For you”, he was never far from Steve. Following him around like… well… a puppy. It was the puppy’s affectionate nature that had earned him the name, Valentine, or Tiny for short. 

Steve heard the penthouse door swish open and hid his smile in Tiny’s fur as Tony strolled into the room, grease-stained and rumpled. His eyes were glued to a Starkpad held in his hands as he called out to Steve, “Hey babe, have you seen the furball? Clint was looking for him earlier. Something about a new arrow chew toy or something.” 

Tiny let out an excited yip at the sound Tony’s voice, efficiently cutting him off mid-rant. Tony jerked his head up and spotted Steve sprawled across the sofa, Tiny still perched on his chest. 

“I should have known,” Tony said with a fond look towards Steve. “You do know he has his own bed right? Or are you just really enjoying playing mattress?” 

Steve just smiled, still idly petting Tiny’s ears, but his eyes straying to the gorgeous man in front of him. “You know I love him, Tony. Almost as much as I love you.” He continued with a wink in Tony’s direction. “I play mattress to you often enough. I’m not sure why Tiny should be any different.” 

Tony just grumbled incoherently and wandered towards the bedroom, a light blush spilling across his cheekbones. 

Steve got fluidly to his feel, still cradling Tiny to his chest as he followed his lover into the bedroom, listening to him mumble away to himself.

“I bought him, pay for his keep, was nice enough to give him to the sappiest human on the planet to look after him, and I only got, what? Two hours of being the favourite? Typical really…” 

Steve stopped listening as Tony began to strip off his clothes on his way to the en suite, more and more of his beautiful golden skin being revealed as he went. Steve followed as if in a trance, not able to tear his eyes away from the play of muscles on Tony’s back, power radiating from every movement. He just wanted to bury his face in the back of Tony’s neck, maybe lick the length of his spine… wait, was he still talking?

“… my fault really, don’t you think?” Tony finally stopped and turned back towards Steve, now gloriously naked. “After all, I chose the little traitor,” he said with an indulgent smile as he stepped forward and scratched behind Tiny’s ear, where he was still held securely in Steve’s hands. After a moment Tony looked up into Steve’s eyes, his smile radiating such bone-deep happiness that Steve could do nothing but smile back like a besotted fool. 

With a light kiss to Tiny’s head, Steve deposited the pup on the ground and shooed him towards his small, overstuffed bed by the window. It had been a gift from Pepper, and was covered in little Iron Man helmets and arc reactors. Tony still looked immensely pleased whenever he saw the pup dozing on it. After checking that Tiny was settled, he turned back towards Tony and started backing him into the wall of the bathroom. He pressed his hands to the wall on either side of Tony’s head, trapping him where he wanted him. 

“You never did tell me why you decided to get him in the first place,” Steve murmured as he leaned in. “You’d never mentioned getting a dog before.”

Tony’s eyes flicked to the side, unable to meet Steve’s gaze, as once again a blush stained his cheeks. “Uh, well, you see…” The rest of his sentence trailed off into more mumbling, too low even for Steve’s serum-enhanced hearing to decipher. 

Smiling in bemusement, Steve leaned in and brushed his lips feather soft up and down the length of Tony’s neck, delighting in the shiver the action caused. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” He whispered, lips still grazing sensitive skin. 

“He, uh… He reminded me of you,” Tony whispered and risked a glance upwards. The blush darkened, and Steve could only imagine what kind of dopy love-struck grin must have been covering his own face at that moment. “Jesus, don’t look at me like that, Steve!”

“Like what?” 

“Like I’m the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen,” he grumbled, hiding his face in Steve’s chest. “He was just sat there alone in the store window looking all pathetic with his stupid gold fur and huge eyes. He was so little! I couldn’t just leave him there.” 

Steve took a moment to silently thank anyone who was listening for bringing this amazing man into his life. He cradled Tony’s head in his hands and tipped his face upwards. “I love you, you know,” Steve whispered helplessly. “So much.” 

Tony sighed. “I love you too, baby.” He pushed up onto his toes and finally touched his lips to Steve’s in a sweet kiss. The soft pillows of his lips rubbed lightly over Steve’s in a teasing promise of what would follow.

Steve pulled back and softly rubbed his thumbs back and forth across Tony’s cheekbones as he gazed into his eyes. “You’re ridiculous,” Steve said, his voice completely besotted, even to his own ears. “I think you’re the only person on Earth who’d compare me to a puppy.”

“It’s the eyes, Steve. Your puppy-dog eyes are legendary.”

“I do _not_ have-“

“You really do, babe.” Tony leaned up for another brief kiss, wrapping his arms around Steve’s neck as he did so. “Everyone says so.”

“What do you mean ‘everyone’?”

“Literally everyone Steve. You do it without realising, the whole team’s noticed.”

“Oh, _God_ ,” Steve wailed, ducking his head as mortification flooded him. 

“It’s ok, baby, I still love you, even if you do have some startling similarities to small fluffy animals,” Tony teased as he pressed butterfly kisses all over Steve’s face. 

“That aside, I’m not sure it’s a good enough reason to bring home a puppy out of the blue. You’d never mentioned the possibility before.”

“Well, you know. I remembered you saying you’d always wanted a pet as a kid, and then I saw him and thought why not, you know? He was perfect,” he finished with a fond glance back towards the now conked out puppy in the bedroom. “Plus, I thought it’d be good practice, right?” 

A confused frown slid across Steve’s face. “Practice for what?”

“You know…” Tony shifted from foot to foot, eyes darting about. “For if we ever want to bring something else small and cute home. But you know with less fur and…” He trailed off as he caught sight of the shocked but beaming smile of realisation that had appeared on Steve’s face. “Is that… is that ok?” He had to check.

Steve was speechless. They’d never really discussed the possibility of having children, other than some hints Steve had dropped now and then. He opened his mouth, but no words came out, so he settled for grabbing Tony by the waist and pulling him into a very enthusiastic kiss, his heart full to bursting with joy. 

Tony was sporting a dazed sort of grin when Steve finally released him. “I guess you like that idea then?”

Steve just kissed him again and mumbled against his lips, “Best idea you’ve ever had.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, guys!  
> You can find me on Tumblr [here](http://electricitylingerss.tumblr.com/), so drop by any time!


End file.
